One gigabit speed internet coming to West Seattle

By Patrick Robinson

08/05/2014

If you want faster internet it's coming to West Seattle and other Seattle neighborhoods. CenturyLink announced on Aug. 5 that symmetrical broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) are available now to some residential and business customers in select locations through its fiber network. Comcast, which also offers high speed internet tops out at around 105Mbps or around 10 times slower. Cable is also asymmetrical, meaning upload and download speeds are far different. It can vary depending on local bandwidth use. Upload speeds might be 10mbps while download speeds with cable can range from 11mbps up to 105mbps. The symmetrical service from CenturyLink will provide users with a billion bits per second both up and down.

CenturyLink is planning to expand the service within the next 12 months. It is available now to parts of West Seattle, the Central District, Beacon Hill, and Ballard. It's also being introduced in 12 other cities. You can check for availability in your area by visiting www.centurylink.com/gig .

It's called fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology, meaning the fiber optic line comes right to the home or business. Coaxial cable loses signal strength over distance so Comcast uses fiber to bring it to local hubs where cable carries the signal to the customer.

The service will cost $79.95 for home users.

If the service is not yet available in your area you can sign up to receive an email alert when the service becomes available in your neighborhood.

A plan to bring gigabit internet speeds to West Seattle and other neighborhoods through a company called Gigabit Squared fell through last year which led to the city suing the company for unpaid bills.

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